1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile device including a touch screen for input operations and to a display control method enabling control of the mobile device. In particular, the present invention relates to a mobile device capable of customizing a menu screen of the mobile device to suit a user's preferences.
2. Description of Related Art
Touch screens for input operations are increasingly installed in devices such as cellular telephone terminals or portable data terminals (smartphones). This kind of touch screen includes a touch sensor provided so as to overlap with a display screen. When a user employs a finger or a pen having a pointed tip (a stylus) to touch the display screen, the touch sensor detects a contact position. Then, by comparing the contact position with a position of a button or icon displayed on the screen, the user is determined to have operated the button or icon on the screen.
A mobile device having such a touch screen installed has a high degree of freedom in displaying information on a screen and thus a technology is known in which a user customizes icon images displayed on the screen of the mobile device by kind and position (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2007-180951). By employing such customization technology, the user's preferences for screen display can be reflected.
However, although the user's preferences for screen display (look) can be reflected because the mobile device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2007-180951 provides a tool to customize the kind and position of icons, consideration of the user's preferences for operability may be lacking.
This so-called preference for operability refers to a screen display facilitating operation in response to a user's characteristics (such as vision or size of fingers), or to a screen display suited to the user's habits and tastes. For example, large icons are easier to see than small icons for a person with poor eyesight and large icons are easier to accurately touch operate than small icons for a person with large fingers.